Enjoying some summertime fun

PICKERING -- Even with a scraped chin and elbow, Kyle Lawrence still smiles as he splashes through the sprinklers at Pickering beach.

On his list of summer fun: bike riding, a trip to the Sandbanks, and playing in the waterpark while visiting his grandma in Pickering.

"I was going to play in there," said the four-year-old, looking at the sprinkler park, his hair and white tank top wet from the waterworks.

"I was running in there and bumped into someone," he said of his wounds.

His grandma, Norma Gallant, is watching Kyle for a week and every day he makes her take him to the splash and swing park at the end of Liverpool Road South.

Visiting the beachfront is a good way to spend a day, Ms. Gallant said.

"This is the best part for him, he meets friends," she said. "He throws stones too, it's his favourite."

As the pair wraps up their visit and Ms. Gallant tows a red-hatted, sunglasses-wearing Kyle along in a green wagon, two teenage girls ride their bikes along the boardwalk.

The 13-year-old girls, best friends since kindergarten, have lots planned for summer vacation.

"Bike riding, swimming, coming down to the beach, going to the mall, shopping," said Katherine Kononow.

She's been enjoying hanging out with her friend, Carmen Cammisuli, and talking about the upcoming school year, whose class they'll be in and what school supplies to buy. They've also been looking for jobs together and chatting on MSN on the computer.

Like Kyle, they plan to hit the beach's sprinkler park - their bathing suits and towels packed inside their matching black backpacks.

"Waiting till we steam up," Carmen said.

She also plans on playing baseball this summer. Her friend Katherine plays as well, but skips a lot, she said.

In Ajax at Rotary Park, Emma Schindler has a long list of summer plans.

"I am going to camp in August and my family and I are going to the cottage and I just got back from (British Columbia) - I was going to visit my grandparents, I don't see them often," said Emma, age 11. She might go shopping in the U.S., camping and visiting two cottages, as well as simpler things.

"I think sometimes I just might go next door to my neighbours," she said. "They have a big backyard and swing set.

"And I just might curl up and read a book if I have time," Emma said.

"We're probably going to come here (to Rotary Park) quite a bit for the sprinkler park and I know that's where we're going after lunch," she said.

Emma's also going to do some biking riding and swimming - she's a level nine.

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